A TALE OF LOVE AND MONSTERS is a heart-stopping, action-packed fantasy adventure, a unique romance, and a deep, wise parable about self-sacrifice and family stories. Beautifully crafted kaleidoscope of distinctively new and classic legends. A MINUS
Read IN THE DREAM HOUSE by Carmen Maria Machado if you love haunted houses, gut wrenchingly beautiful prose, autobiographical accounts, trauma narratives, exceedingly queer stories, a meticulous exploration of abuse, thematic echoes & brilliantly structured books.
Read THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab if you love old friends, new friends, strong tea, being a hero, rebellions, running away, heists, chronic illness, magic items, sacrifices, festivals, markets, crowded shops, mirrors, f**ked up families & seeing what others do not.
ADRIFT IN A NEARLY DESERTED VENICE in the early months of the 2020 pandemic, a writer contemplates his native Nigeria, his life in Detroit, his love of travel, but most of all his complicated family. Beautifully crafted prose, distinctive story. B PLUS
A DELICATELY HAUNTING THAI novel unfolds like a late-night story from its protagonist, a monk in his 90s telling tales of his youth in the remote jungles of the late 19th century, where tigers and crocodiles lurked in the darkness. Stunning. A MINUS
Book Review: Stealing the Elf-King's Roses by Diane Duane In which an investigator stumbles onto a conspiracy while investigating the murder of an Alfen businessman @dianeduane@bookstodon#books#bookreviews
INTERTWINED NARRATIVES OF MOTHERHOOD and madness weave a subtly unsettling spell in this little gem of a novel of psychological horror and suspense. B PLUS
STYLISH CALIFORNIA THRILLER keeps the energy high with action and hot romance. Vivid details and strong characterizations make this a glossy rollercoaster of a read. B PLUS
A SCANDALOUS 1865 DIVORCE case offers a window into New York high society—the defendant was a cousin of Edith Wharton, no less—and the time’s changing attitudes about marriage, women’s rights, and sexuality. Great balance of gossip and context. B PLUS
A YOUNG WOMAN ON THE THRESHOLD between student and adult, between her early childhood in China and her life in Canada, and even between English and Mandarin, is haunted by memory and her younger self as her mother drifts into illness. B PLUS
Hi, folks! I've got a set of nano-reviews up at Nerds of a Feather!
Live Long and Evolve: A non-fiction book by an evolutionary biologist about what life on other planets might look like, charmingly interwoven with relevant Star Trek lore.
The Extractionist: a very Cyber futurist heisty type book, which I found well constructed but somehow dull
THe Frame-Up_Magical art thieves. Perfectly fine, but not special.
A RELUCTANT HITWOMAN’S COMPLICATED life gets a bit more difficult when her imperious aunt orders her to run a charity race and her mobster boss commissions her to assassinate a dictator. Cozy thriller combines action and fun. SOLID B
TWO SISTERS, VETERANS of World War II and still eager for “excitements” in their late nineties, find more thrills than they had bargained for on a trip to Paris. Charming adventure for fans of the Thursday Murder Club and Mrs. Pargeter. B PLUS
HORRORS BOTH HUMAN AND SUPERNATURAL roll out with a relentless, breathtaking pace in this final installment of the Indian Lake Trilogy. As ever, Stephen Graham Jones’s deft characterization and vivid sense of place drive the chill deep. B PLUS
AN ASPIRING THIEF OF MAGICAL jewels falls into a series of predicaments that leave her responsible for stopping a murder before it happens. Charming fantasy mystery with plenty of wit and action. B PLUS
THE CONQUISTADORES’ ARRIVAL, REIMAGINED in a playfully serious tale that darts as kaleidoscopically as a hummingbird between culture and culture and between the empires of past and present. Powerfully visual, sardonically witty. SOLID A
AN EXPERT ON CARCERAL VIOLENCE and the system’s cruel injustices to poor and minority youth tells the story of a tragedy that happened in his own extended family—the loss of a bright, caring teen to imprisonment and then a gang-related murder. A MINUS
Read A CONJURING OF LIGHT by V.E. Schwab if you love jumping right into the action, invasions, infections, sacrifices, pirate ships, magical markets, sharing pain, the scars left behind, so much blood, betrayals, the terror of love, dungeons, flashbacks & a shit ton of knives.
SUMMONING THE DEAD was only the first mistake Alex made—things got a lot worse after that. Sharp, evocative horror novel has a powerful sense of place and of the terrors of suffocating slowly in dead-end towns. B PLUS
A PERSONAL REINVENTION REVISITED with added layers of distance; French writer Édouard Louis retells the story of transforming himself from a poor village boy to an elegant Parisian autobiographical novelist. Thought-provoking yet a bit artificial. B PLUS
A DAZZLING PUNK-ROCK NARNIA blends magic and the everyday into a gritty, sweet, terrifying, and touching story about how life is built on love and anger and dreams. A MINUS